Lagoon Hill summit, VK5/ SE-008

I activated Lagoon Hill on the 20th April, 2013, after I had been to Mount Horrocks summit.

Lagoon Hill is 689 metres ASL and is worth 4 points.

Lagoon Hill is located about 138 kms north of Adelaide, and about 30 kms north east of the town of Saddleworth. It is located close to the Apoinga Lagoon (was completely dry) and Energy Australia’s Waterloo wind farm installation.

The summit is located on private property. Access is via Mollers Gap Road. Travel east on Mollers Gap Road over Apoinga Road, and take the first dirt track on your left. Go to the end of the track and you will come to a cockies gate on your right. Go through the gate and drive through the paddock. You will reach a fenceline where the scrub starts. I parked my car here and then walked to the north slightly and then up the hill.

The climb up here is NOT easy. There is NO track leading to the summit. It is bush bashing through the scrub, which is made hard by the fact that the hill is steep and very rocky. It took me about one hour to get to the top and it was hard yaka ! Ended up with a few cuts & scratches.

However once you reach the top, you are rewarded with magnificent views. The view from the top is absolutely spectacular. There is a trig point at the top but it is not easy to find as it is surrounded by thick scrub. There are plenty of operating spots as the mountain is covered in large rocks and small trees and scrub, so there are plenty of options for securing a squid pole or antenna.

I found a comfy spot and set up the gear. As I sat admiring the view and chatting on the radio, a few Wedge Tailed eagles were soaring above the cliff face. I don’t think they were eyeing me off ! ?

I had a total of 20 QSO’s on 40m & 20m. This included a few DX contacts into Europe & the UK on 20m, who were receiving my QRP signal quite well. Unfortunately I ran out of time and I knew I had a hard climb down, and definitely didn’t want to do it in partial darkness. Oh well !

An interesting QSO for me that afternoon was with Nev, VK5WG, who is getting on in years now. This was originally his father’s call sign. I remember often hearing VK5WG when I was a short wave listener in my teenage years (some 35 years ago).